True-blue Joe 'honoured' to receive Lord Mayor's award

RTE's Joe Duffy has described as "fantastic" being honoured with a Lord ­Mayor's award for his contribution to Dublin society.

The Liveline presenter was last night presented with one of four awards given out annually to worthy individuals.

"It's a great honour. My mother and father are both from the city centre of Dublin and, growing up, I had no relatives outside of Dublin so I think I have all the credentials of being a true-blue Dub," he said.

Honour

"This is a really fantastic honour and I really appreciate it.

"It's great for Liveline, great for RTE and great for the listeners."

When asked why he thought he was given the accolade, he put it down to his work on the RTE Radio 1 afternoon show, which now has 400,000 listeners and was turned into a TV show called Liveline: Callback.

The Ballyfermot native (61) also wrote a best-seller called Children Of The Rising, chronicling what happened to the 40 youngsters who lost their lives in the 1916 Easter conflict.

"I think it's from my work on Liveline and my work on reclaiming the children of the Rising," he said.

"It's great that the show is still going strong and still there in the national conversation and that people still trust it as an institution."

The father-of-three yesteday hosted his programme as usual and then received his scroll at last night's ceremony, which was attended by his proud wife June and hosted by Lord Mayor Brendan Carr at the Mansion House, Dublin.

The well-known broadcaster is currently working on another book, which delves into Irish history, called Children Of The Troubles 1968-98.